By this time, especially following the release of the Mueller Report, you would think that conspiracy theories involving Russia and American democracy would have subsided; instead they’ve only escalated as the U.S. enters the hot end of the 2020 presidential election campaign.

Presently, Americans are bombarded with corporate media stories about the dastardly Russians threatening our elections. “A signature trait of Russian President Vladimir Putin ‘is his ability to convince people of outright falsehoods,’ William Evanina, director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center, said in a statement. “In America, they using social media and many other tools to inflame social divisions, promote conspiracy theories and sow distrust in our democracy and elections.”

This brings up an uncomfortable reality. None of the ongoing projection would be anywhere as effective without the active assistance from the corporate media. Indeed, the downsizing and effective elimination of investigative journalism has exacerbated the problem. Now, savvy editors and journalists understand that the route to success is to parrot the official line, of their plutocratic owners.

In fact the power of these vast news media corporations to manipulate the way the populace thinks and votes stretches far beyond the consequences of a mere presidential election. The ability to manufacture consent for the agendas of the plutocratic class which controls these corporations enables empire and the war and militarism that accompanies empire. Projection also enables and contributes to the soul crushing precariat produced by neoliberalism and the increasingly Orwellian surveillance programs that have transformed our country.

This ongoing projection is coming at a critical junction in American history. The US is struggling to hold on to its dominant position as the world hegemon. And rather than seeing that their unipolar world is ending, our sociopathic elite are prepared to use any and all means to hold their position in the world. The deep state and crucial sectors of the US ruling class are absolutely terrified that China is already outpacing the “indispensable nation” economically and that Russia has outpaced it militarily. Both countries recently held joint naval drills with Iran.

The problem with projection for we the people is that we are unable to see the truth while accepting the lies. We’re supporting al Qaeda/ISIS and Neo-Nazi terrorist proxies. We’re supporting the military dictatorship of the American empire. We’re supporting our subservience to supranational corporate diktats. And ultimately we’re supporting the thirdworldization of our own political/economy.

The result is permanent warfare and globalizing poverty that are hallmarks of this dystopia, as is the widespread despair.